1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a support apparatus for optical assembles and more particularly to an apparatus for supporting the mirrors, prisms and other light image transferring and detecting devices that are used in camera automatic focusing and other automatic range finding devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, prior art automatic focusing devices employ custom made bent retainer plates for attaching each of a plurality of image reflecting mirrors to separate precision molded supports. Each support is required to have a pair of especially made bearings so that a mirror can be mounted in a precise rotatable position, for example, on a camera housing. Since the retainer plate must be made to suit each mirror that it supports it is a costly item to manufacture and assemble. Since the aforementioned precision molded supports must be manufactured to a precise dimension these parts also are costly to manufacture. Also, the especially made bearings which are used to rotatably mount each mirror support are required to be machined to very precise tolerances, for example, between 0.0002 and 0.0003 inches, and are therefore, very costly items to manufacture.